Adventure at the Night Safari !

The break from work is starting to get to me.

Im turning into a nocturnal guppy. Staying up wayyyy too late at night and sleeping in wayyy too much . so much so that my first meal of the day is a late lunch. this is NOT good.

Well today i did not manage to rot in bed till the late afternoon, I recieved an sms around 8ish in the morning. it was a continuation of a heated "discussion" on friendships, rules, expectations, gifts, terrorism and buddiehood. Did i really win this discussion? Did the messenger really see that all the silly rules, all the silly "cannots" are killing this guppy? can all the silly hangups be banished forever ? Can we now finally see eye to eye on what "buddiehood" really is? only time will tell... but for now, I am pleased this one is still sticking around.

So that took care of my morning dreariness.... by the time i dragged myself out of bed, late afternoon saw me rotting at the salon, paying some hapless manucurist to remove my acrylic gel nails, and then it was more brainless shopping followed by a totally lazy full body massage...and endless snacking on coffee and cakes.

Boy was I glad when Porkchop suggested an all new activity we could do in the evening ---- We shall visit the Night Safari !

We arrived at the Night Safari in Mandai at around 630pm...and wasted no time to camwhore!

Porkchop posing outside the main entrance....

There was a sizable crowd at the night safari. I was surprised, lotsa tourists as well as locals were queing to pay the crazy insane bloody sucking entry fee ( SGD22 bucks entry + SGD 12 bucks for tram ride) into the night safari.

THe tickets looked soooo pretttyyy...hee heee ...

As we havent had dinner yet, we decided to grab some food from this very inviting burger joint at the place....called...

Bongo Burgers!!!!

The fish and chips were ...so so...nothing to shout about ...but not yucky...just well normal...

Porkchop was not pleased with his Safari Lamb Burger...he made a sulky face when it arrived...hahahah

"My burger is tooo tiny! what a rip off!" cried porkchop...

But man the burger was yum! salty and had special kebab like spices mixed into the patty...i am strangely drawn to it hahahhhaa

After dinner, it was on with our tour!

we had to join the insane queue of tourists to board the trams that will take us on a round trip around the night safari grounds!

We queued for over 30 mins before it was our turn to board the tram...Througout the tour we saw so many cute and beautiful fascinating wild animals...Asian Rhinos, Clouded Leopards...sugar gliders, squirrels, lions, hyeenas, bears...deers...

i tried to take some pics but as flash camear photo taking was not allowed in the night safari tramrides, i didnt manage to get one decent shot at all! aaarggh!!!

We got off halfway through the tramride, decided to go it on foot, coz i really really wanted to get some cute animal shots on this trip...but alas, it still really was not possibel to capture anything on my point and shoot cam...sigh

defeated, i started to just take pics of porkchop and myself, with signages.. .stealing a few occassional illegal flash photography shots..hahaha

yeap managed to catch cloud leopard asleep...he didnt even wake up when my flash went off....so cutesy. reminds me of how kitties at home would sleep by my pc notebook hahaha

I was wearing this orange top which made me look like a huge grapefruit or orange...hahahah i dared not enter the bat enclosure ...just incase the bats think im an edible orange...sigh

pics of both porkchop and myself camwhoring on a suspension bridge high above the "Rainforest " called the "bridge of suspense " ....* sweat* i wonder who came up with these super creative names...

It was close to 10pm by the time Porkchop and I made it back to the safari entrance on foot , there was no timeto loose, i headed straight for the SAFARI gift shop :P but didnt find anything striking, special or cute enough to spend my moolah on...sigh so yes im proud to report. i did not buy any souvenior stuffed toys this time !

But i did manage to capture some CLEAR pics ..finally! no more blurry black shots in the dark safari ...

All in all, i had a great time with Porkchop at the Night Safari. But i cant help but feel that the daytime, Singapore Zoological Gardens, ( right next door to the night safari) gives me more bang for my buck. i prefer to see my cute furry animals ...in their original glorious colour,...not squint and try to spot them in the grey and the dark.

still...it really is a place you should just go see..at least once :) 2 more days to go till 2010 begins. I am excited!

Its not an Indian Restaurant!

Porkchop and I caught up with abi this evening :D

Abi was gonna take us both to " this very special place that serves the yummiest Naan ". we picked Abi up from her office at around 630pm and headed towards Sim Lim Square.

when we reached the place.. to my horror, the special place Abi was so excited about, was not really a restaurant , it was in fact really an airconditioned food court ! aaaaaaa!

Hungry, we ordered alot of food, mutton kebabs, chicken tikka, butter chicken, garlic naan, butter naan, plain naan, the works! I must say this little guppy was suitably surprised.

THE FOOD WAS SUPER DELICIOUS! with Naan that is fragrant and crisp enough to defeat some of the better more famous full fledged Indian restaurants in town!

Guppies love cam whoring with abi :D

Abi is eating carbs!

Porkchop is secretly elated...yesh! indian food...porkchop lovevs naaan

who am i kidding? we all love naaan, who doesnt love Naan?!

Butternut chicken dish

despite everything lookin on the reddish side, the food was delicious, it wasnt too spicy ...the spice was managable by my lousy spice eating standards ;)

squeeze the lime over the chicen kebabs and chopped chicken tikkas...everything will just yummily fall into place ..heheheheh

After dinner, the 3 of us headed out to United square along thomson road, for some sweet ice cream at Ben & Jerry's

Had to get the 2 ice cream nuts to take a pic together :d

Merry christmas abi , 2010 will be another exciting one :D for all of us !

2am that very same morning ....just hours before the yummy dinner adventure above...

Guppy : if you love me, tattoo my name on your body!

Porkchop : No way :p

Guppy : I dun care, lemme draw a tattoo on you then!

Porkchop : *groans* why me....

Note to self : Drinking any form of caffienated drinks after 10pm at night like tea, coffee bubble tea etc is a really bad idea . it keeps little guppies awake and up to no good

Delicious Home Cooked Vietnamese Yum Yums

House-warming Dinner Party at Hue's !

I like this time of the year, lotsa gatherings lotsa parties. This evening, Porkchop invited me to join him at one of his colleague's housewarming dinners .

Other guests at this dinner included some of Porkchop and Hue's other team mates. Michael , a local singaporean, Colin who's also vietnamese and Jason who's from China.

Everyone barring Michael and myself was a foreigner who had spent anything betwen 3-10 years in Singapore . They came, they decided this was the place for them, and they made up their mind to live , work ,build their families and bring up their children here in Singapore.

Our gracious hosts Hue and wifey

We were all in for a treat. This evening's entire dinner spread was prepared from scratch by the missus! Authentic Vietnamese home cooking! :D The rice had green bean mixed into it...its just a surprisingly interesting taste the more you chew on the rice, the more green beanish it tastes

I was particularly curious about this corn and dried shrimp dish. But i liked it! one mouthful and i was hooked hahaha

we had multiple servings of this canned meat thing that looked suspiciously like spam..luncheon meat...but it tasted different., Hue said it was vietnamese brand luncheon meat.

Curry leaf steamed fish...which is intended for our rice paper roll wrap as a key meat ingredient.

Porkchop busily attacking the food...Colin's a very active speaker...lotsa movements hahaha Hue's Missus demonstrating how we should wrap our rice paper rolls. ...first we soak the rice paper in water to soften it, then we load it wit veggies, sprouts, mint leaves, rice noodles, some of the fish...roll it up and dip it in fish sauce :D

Tada! my self wrapped rice paper roll! yeah yeah looks ugly...but hey as long as it wraps everything up neatly and fits in my mouth, I dont give a damn! hahaha

Hue's wifey demonstrating how to PROPERLY wrap a rice paper roll...hahaha Jason was like the guppy, we just scrunch everything up into a ball and shovel everything into our mouths !

Just as I thought that rice paper roll was the dinner main course, I could not be more wrong!

Main course was a special beef noodle dish called Bun Bo Huay ..the soup stock was like nothing i had tasted before. Mmm very different . "spicy" but not 'hot" like there was a curry leaf after taste ? not sure how to describe it but i think i kinda like it ? :)

I enjoyed this housewarming party :) Hue said he will prepare something special for everyone during lunar new year next year .. Im excited!

Great company, warm hospitality, excellent home cooking. Yes indeedy guppies love home cooked dinners!

Who will cook for me next ?!

Footnote: on the way back home, I had a smallish dramatic traumatic episode. We trudged back to the multistorey carpark next to Hue's block. but we could not find Ashton! i searched every single floor. and finally gave up..concluding that Ashton mustve gotten stolen!

i called my dad who immediately decided to comepick us up to take us to the police station to make a stolen vehicle report, and while waiting i called moo

lucky for me moo reminded me that i couldve been in the wrong multistorey carpark . AND SHE WAS RIGHT! the bastards who built that housing estate built 2 IDENTICAL multistorey carkparks! aaaaaaaaaa! i was in the wrong carpark. porkchop and i eventually found Ashton, ( in the right carpark) i gave ashton a big hug and finaly heaved a sigh of relief.

I realise now, after this traumatic episode how much i LOVE my car :p mad thoughts were running through my mind, the bastards who stole my car...are they taking a joyride spin across the causeway into Malaysia? can i claim enough insurance money to buy me a spanking new Audi?

Madness!

Christmas Day and Fluffy got Married!

And now she's Mrs Ong :D

The special date : 25th December 2009
Venue : The St Regis

It was a beautiful dinner party , the happy couple spared no expense, the food, flowers, decor, guest lists, and programme was well thought out. So many colourful beautifully dressed people around. :)

I arrived early at the bride's request to help out with the reception . I was wondering why she requested i be there at 530pm. only when i got there did i realise..Fluffy's solemnization ceremony was to start at 6pm, i was in time to join fluffy and Raymond (the happy groom's) families to witness the happy couple exchange their marriage vows ! :)

Didnt really know anyone else there personally, only moomoo and Kulcha. Heee and thank goodness smartie fluffy planned for us to be seated at the same table..
Fluffy had so many gown changes it was not funny. and she look so glamourous in each and every one of those gorgeous outfits.


Dinner was traditional chinese foods, but with plated servings :D which i really really like. ...there was sharksfin soup though...yes im anti sharksfin soup. but since the sharks fin was already cooked.. i just eat lor :P

just before dessert was served, moo , kulcha and I stepped out for some air. there was 2 velvet chairs in the lobby of the hotel n front of a huge gorgeous Christmas tree heh we could not resist, just had to cam whore.

back at the banquet table, I made moo take more pics of me with the wedding favours and the delicious dessert !

All in all, it was a beautiful wedding banquet party . too bad i didnt know too many folks there..so i left soon after dessert .

Congratulations fluffy and Raymond :)